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working |
3 definitions found From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: Work \Work\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. {Worked}, or {Wrought}; p. pr & vb n. {Working}.] [AS. wyrcean (imp. worthe, wrohte, p. p. geworht gewroht); akin to OFries werka, wirka OS wirkian D. werken, G. wirken, Icel. verka, yrkja orka, Goth. wa['u]rkjan. [root]145. See {Work}, n.] 1. To exert one's self for a purpose; to put forth effort for the attainment of an object; to labor; to be engaged in the performance of a task, a duty, or the like O thou good Kent, how shall I live and work To match thy goodness? --Shak. Go therefore now and work for there shall no straw be given you --Ex. v. 18. Whether we work or play, or sleep or wake, Our life doth pass. --Sir J. Davies. 2. Hence in a general sense to operate; to act to perform; as a machine works well We bend to that the working of the heart. --Shak. 3. Hence figuratively, to be effective; to have effect or influence; to conduce. We know that all things work together for good to them that love God. --Rom. viii. 28. This so wrought upon the child, that afterwards he desired to be taught. --Locke. She marveled how she could ever have been wrought upon to marry him --Hawthorne. 4. To carry on business; to be engaged or employed customarily; to perform the part of a laborer; to labor; to toil. They that work in fine flax . . . shall be confounded. --Isa. xix. 9. 5. To be in a state of severe exertion, or as if in such a state; to be tossed or agitated; to move heavily; to strain; to labor; as a ship works in a heavy sea. Confused with working sands and rolling waves. --Addison. 6. To make one's way slowly and with difficulty; to move or penetrate laboriously; to proceed with effort; -- with a following preposition, as down out into up through and the like as scheme works out by degrees; to work into the earth. Till body up to spirit work in bounds Proportioned to each kind --Milton. 7. To ferment, as a liquid. The working of beer when the barm is put in --Bacon. 8. To act or operate on the stomach and bowels, as a cathartic. Purges . . . work best, that is cause the blood so to do . . . in warm weather or in a warm room --Grew. From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: Working \Work"ing\, a & n. from {Work}. The word must cousin be to the working. --Chaucer. {Working beam}. See {Beam}, n. 10. {Working class}, the class of people who are engaged in manual labor, or are dependent upon it for support; laborers; operatives; -- chiefly used in the plural. {Working day}. See under {Day}, n. {Working drawing}, a drawing, as of the whole or part of a structure, machine, etc., made to a scale, and intended to be followed by the workmen. Working drawings are either general or detail drawings. {Working house}, a house where work is performed; a workhouse. {Working point} (Mach.), that part of a machine at which the effect required; the point where the useful work is done From WordNet r 1.6 [wn]: working adj 1: actively engaged in paid work "the working population"; "the ratio of working men to unemployed"; "a working mother"; "robots can be on the job day and night" [syn: {working(a)}, {on the job(p)}] 2: adequate for practical use especially sufficient in strength or numbers to accomplish something "the party has a working majority in the House"; "a working knowledge of Spanish" 3: adopted as a temporary basis for further work "a working draft"; "a working hypothesis" [syn: {working(a)}] 4: (of e.g. a machine) performing or capable of performing; "in running (or working) order"; "a functional set of brakes" [syn: {running(a)}, {operative}, {functional}, {working(a)}] 5: serving to permit or facilitate further work or activity; "discussed the working draft of a peace treaty"; "they need working agreements with their neighbor states on interstate projects" n : a mine or quarry that is being or has been worked [syn: {workings}]
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